Coming soon: 26km road over Najafgarh drain to ease congestion

Traffic congestion has become synonymous with life in Delhi with hundreds of cars being added to the city roads every day.

Traffic congestion has become synonymous with life in Delhi with hundreds of cars being added to the city roads every day.

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Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) minister Rajkumar Chauhan said there is an urgent need to increase road network in Delhi and that’s why the government is looking at constructing roads over drains in the city.

It seems impossible today but very soon you may find cars swishing along wide roads constructed on elevated structures on city’s big drains.

To start with, the government is working on a plan to connect Kakrola in West Delhi with Wazirabad in north Delhi by building a road on Najafgarh drain. The minister said a consultant is being appointed to prepare a feasibility report for the same.

“We had earlier planned to construct a road between Meera Bagh and Wazirabad on the Najafgarh drain. The consultant had also prepared a feasibility report, which was submitted to the UTTIPEC. We have now decided to extend this road up to Kakrola near Najafgarh,” Chauhan said.

This is not the first time the PWD is exploring possibility of constructing a road over a drain. The Barapullah elevated road, which has become an important link between east and south Delhi, is also built over a drain.

Disused Canal Road in east Delhi, which is an alternative to Vikas Marg in east Delhi, has also been built over a drain. While several new roads and flyovers have come up in south Delhi and east Delhi in the past few years, thanks to the Commonwealth Games, west Delhi has remained neglected. Chauhan said he recently visited several parts of west Delhi along with a team of officers and engineers and realised there was an urgent need to improve the road network there.

“We have already cleared the proposal to build a string of elevated roads and flyovers along the outer Ring Road between Vikaspuri and Wazirabad,” he added.